Transcript: UCLA AD Dan Guerrero on Howland's firing

UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero spoke with reporters not long after notifying Coach Ben Howland of his dismissal after 10 years as coach.

Here's the transcript from that conference call:

OPENING STATEMENT: "Earlier this afternoon I met with coach Ben Howland, we had a nice conversation about the program and a number of things and subsequent to that discussion, I informed him that we were relieving him of his duties as head coach at UCLA and that we’d be moving forward with a search as soon as possible."

ON WHY THE DECISION WAS MADE NOW: "As we went into this season, there were aspirations to obviously compete for a conference championship and make a fun in the tournament and certainly we were successful in the former and not as successful on the latter part. However, the evaluation of a coach involves a number of other things besides just wins and losses, and as I looked at the entire program and where I felt we were, especially heading into next year – which is obviously where we need to look at this point in time -- I felt that now was the appropriate time to make a decision to make a change and get a fresh start."

ON WHETHER JORDAN ADAMS' INJURY DOOMED HOWLAND: "That was very unfortunate that that happened to Jordan. Jordan was, in a lot of ways, the heart and soul of this team, and certainly to lose him in that game was a critical loss for us. It’s speculative. It didn’t happen, so there’s no need to really dwell on it. The important thing is though when you look at that particular injury and what was left of our roster just in a general sense, I think it’s important to note the fact that we had such a depleted roster in many respect is in part one of the reasons for making a decision."

ASKED ABOUT INFO ON HIS CONTRACT: Contract still has five years remaining. Total package of $3.5 million, first year is $2.3 million, next are $300,000 for four years. “All of that is subject to mitigation.”

ON WHAT THEY NEEDED TO SEE FROM HIM THIS SEASON TO KEEP HIS JOB: "I wouldn’t say there were real tangible benchmarks. There were a lot of issues raised by a number of sources last year. We did not have a successful year on the court as you well know. On the other hand, we were on the road for the most part while Pauley was getting renovated. So it was understandable that it might be a difficult year. So I took that into consideration as we move forward. There were a number of challenges that we faced last year. ... I’d been with Ben at that point for nine years. Great relationship. … I wanted to give him an opportunity to continue with the program and move forward and try to get it on stable footing. So that’s what I did.

ON WHETHER ATTENDANCE PLAYED A PART: "There are a number of factors that dictate whether people come to games or not. I would certainly not lay all of that on Ben’s shoulders, by any stretch of the imagination.We do need to obviously generate as much fan support as we can and get people in the seats."

ON THE NEW COACH: "As we move forward, we’re going to try and bring someone here that will excite the fan base, that’ll work with our student athletes and get them to compete at a high level. There’s a lot to sell when it comes to UCLA: great university, great academic tradition, great basketball tradition, terrific facility in new Pauley Pavilion, we play in a wonderful conference, we’re in a great location, fertile recruiting base, there’s a number of positives that a coach would look as they’ll come to UCLA."

ON WHETHER THEY'D RECRUIT THE SAME TYPE OF PLAYER (SPECIFICALLY, ONE-AND-DONES): "You’re trying to recruit the very best student athletes that you can, but it’s important for us to recruit student athletes that can make the grade and graduate. We’ll certainly look at all of it."

ON IF HE HAS ANYONE IN MIND FOR THE JOB: "I don’t think I can reveal any names that I have on my mind at this point in time. Now that we’re moving into a search mode, I have an idea of where we’d like to go. ... We’re looking at individuals that can fit this university, that can recruit the kind of student athletes that will thrive academically, but obviously be able to compete at the highest level in the country. We’re excited about the prospects of doing that search."

ON WHETHER STYLE OF PLAY WILL PLAY INTO THE DECISION: We’ll look at everything just in a general sense. I know that Ben got a lot of knocks for style of play, but Ben Howland is a very good coach. People sort of knock him because we were more of a halfcourt, defense oriented typed team. I think you saw this year that kind of shifted a little bit. We pushed the ball a lot more and scored at a much higher rate. I know our fans like that, and in some respects, many respects, it’s about entertainment. … We’ll look at someone that can play a fun brand of basketball, but also a quality brand of basketball. .. Certainly we don’t want to bring in a coach that’s going to average 50 points per game.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.